


It's Not Quite the Parent Trap

by omgericzimmermann (HMSLusitania)



Series: Single Dads AU [1]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Baker!Bitty, M/M, NO ACTUAL INFIDELITY OCCURS IN THIS FIC, Single Dads AU, and a giant black cat named peaches, entirely on bitty's assumption, featuring the family poindexter from MoP, peewee hockey coach!Jack, there's a little bit of miscommunication, yes bitty has a biological child, yes they both have children
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-29
Updated: 2016-07-29
Packaged: 2018-07-27 14:09:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7621438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HMSLusitania/pseuds/omgericzimmermann
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bitty's a little confused when his six year old son wants to play hockey. He's concerned when Tommy's coach is a retired NHL player with perfect cheekbones and piercing blue eyes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Not Quite the Parent Trap

**Author's Note:**

> For a tumblr anon! 
> 
> Also this story features in the background Dex and Nursey's family from Mechanics of Poetry, so like, if you wanted an explanation of how they ended up with Dex's fourteen year old niece, that can be found there.
> 
> And Jack/Maddie's stuffed penguin comes from [this post](http://bittlebybittle.tumblr.com/post/130694676722/on-my-god-jacks-stuffed-animal-is-totally-a) which is delightful and wonderful and totally how it happens in this fic. Thanks to bittlebybittle for letting me borrow it :)
> 
> ETA: Thanks to rightnow for fixing my French!

Bitty looks from his absolutely tiny son to the ice rink and back. The other kids are already in their pads and helmets and skates, sliding around on the ice with a confidence and conviction he is pretty sure his six year old does not share.

“You’re sure you want to play hockey?” Bitty asks.

Tommy nods, but doesn’t actually speak, preferring instead to press his face against Bitty’s thigh. Bitty sighs and pets his hair before they sit down on a bench together. Bitty helps him lace his skates and strap on his helmet properly before scooting him out towards the ice. Tommy can skate, he knows that much. Both his parents were figure skaters though, so Bitty’s not sure why Tommy decided that he wants to play _hockey_.

He watches as Tommy skates by himself in a patch of the rink. It seems like the rest of the kids are just warming up too, getting their ice legs. Two girls are racing each other on the far end of the rink, one with black hair, one with flame red, and they’re both twice Tommy’s size, easy.

“Which one’s yours?”

Bitty turns to see two frighteningly handsome men watching the kids skate. They’re both well dressed and holding hands, Starbucks cups in their disconnected hands. They’re both way too tall, and Bitty has to resist the urge to flinch. But he’s a grown ass adult with an honest to god _child_ and he has to set a good example.

“The tiny blond one,” Bitty says, pointing out Tommy. Tommy looks up from the loops he’s skating by himself and waves. “Which one’s yours?”

“Well, the redhead is my niece,” the redheaded man says, pointing out the very fast girl on the other end of the rink. “Our kid is the assistant coach.”

“O-oh,” Bitty says, because they do not look old enough to have a kid who’s old enough to assistant coach anything, and Bitty is, in fact, fairly certain they’re younger than he is. And considering that he happens to be all of twenty-seven…

“Adopted,” the man with pretty green eyes explains.

Bitty can’t help but breathe out, “Oh thank god,” and both men laugh.

“I’m Derek,” the green eyed man says. “This is Will.”

“I’m Eric,” Bitty says. “Everyone calls me Bitty though.”

“Wait, like Bitty’s Bakery over on Water Street?” Will asks.

“Gotta get the college kids,” Bitty agrees with a grin. Derek and Will laugh. “So where’s the coach?”

“They had to do a snack run,” Will explains. “We’re the official babysitters in their absence.”

“Are you staying for practice?” Derek asks.

“Yeah,” Bitty says. “It’s Tommy’s first time, I can’t just leave him here.”

“I feel ya,” Derek agrees. He looks out across the kids and groans. “Maddie! Nat! Stop racing each other!”

The two girls stop, sending a shower of ice chips across a few of the other kids, including Tommy. Bitty winces and waits for the inevitable wailing, but it doesn’t come. He lets out a sigh of relief. He has to accept the fact Tommy is growing up. Maybe this winter he won’t even cry if he gets hit with snowballs. Or maybe Bitty will have to take him down to Georgia again and visit MooMaw and PopPop to keep him from having a meltdown.

“Alright everyone, huddle up!” a girl’s voice shouts from behind them. Bitty turns, along with Derek and Will, to see two people heading their direction. The girl has long red hair tied back in a sloppy ponytail, too many freckles to count, and is maybe fourteen. She’s carrying a bag full of sticks and pucks and has her own skates slung across her shoulder. Bitty decides she must be Derek and Will’s kid.

The man with her, though, carrying a tub of orange slices, is entirely too hot to be allowed. He’s tall, about twice as broad across as Bitty, and has piercing blue eyes just barely obscured by black hair.

“Coach Z!” the kids chorus, streaming off the ice and huddling up. Tommy totters off the ice and joins the group, elbowing his way to the front between the girls Derek had identified as Maddie and Nat.

The black haired girl, Maddie, has the same blue eyes as Coach Z and looks from Tommy to him and back a couple times.

“ _Papa? Je pense qu’il est trop petit pour jouer,”_ Maddie says.

Coach Z fixes a look on Maddie and shakes his head. Bitty doesn’t know what she said, but it didn’t sound very friendly. He tries not to feel spite towards a girl who is, at most, eight, but it’s hard.

“Okay, kids?” Coach Z says. His accent is so Canadian it hurts. Bitty fights the urge to sit down on the nearest bench and clutch his heart. “We’ve got a new teammate starting with us today. Do you want to introduce yourself?”

“I’m Tommy,” Tommy says. He’s chewing on the lace of his jersey and Bitty has to stop himself from going over and pulling it out of his mouth. “Tommy Bittle.”

“We should call him Bitty,” Nat says, nudging Maddie with her elbow.

“No! That’s my daddy’s name!” Tommy insists.

“Wait like Bitty’s Bakery?” the assistant coach asks. Bitty should get her name from Will and Derek sometime soon.

Tommy nods.

“Dude! Your dad’s pies are the sh—the stuff!” the assistant coach enthuses. Next to Bitty, Derek groans and covers his eyes.

“She got that from you,” Will informs him, taking a smug sip of his coffee.

“Like hell she did,” Derek whispers back. Bitty doesn’t laugh, but it’s close.

“Maybe I can bring pie to practice sometime?” Bitty suggests, trying to catch Coach Z’s eye.

“That would be great,” Coach Z says, giving Bitty a quick smile before turning back to the kids. “Alright. Tommy, do you know what position you want to play?”

Tommy shakes his head.

“He can play forward with us,” Maddie says, her accent every bit as Canadian as her dad’s. Bitty feels his heart melt a little.

“Are you sure?” Coach Z asks.

Maddie and Nat nod enthusiastically and Bitty can’t help but smile.

Coach Z and the assistant coach herd the kids out onto the ice, leaving Bitty with Will and Derek.

“So, out of curiosity, how old is your daughter?” Bitty asks, watching as she helps Tommy figure out how to hold his stick and hit the puck at the same time.

“Ainsley’s fourteen,” Will says. “She came to live with us when she was twelve.”

“Oh,” Bitty says. Nat skates by Ainsley and Tommy and he’s struck by the similarity between the two girls. “She looks just like you, Will.”

“Ha, yeah,” Will agrees.

“So does Nat,” Bitty adds.

Derek sighs. “Oldest brother-in-law is a bag of dismembered homophobic snake genitals,” he says.

“Oh,” Bitty squeaks, trying to get the very regrettably vivid mental image out of his head.

“Thanks babe,” Will says.

“Well it’s true,” Derek replies. “He tried to disown Will when he found out he was gay, and then actually disowned Ainsley when he saw her kissing another girl. Which, like, that’s about as bad as your first kiss could possibly go.”

Bitty wants to beg to differ, because unfortunately, his first kiss story can rival Ainsley’s, but he doesn’t.

“That sounds terrible,” Bitty says. Will nods in agreement.

“But we got Ainsley, so I can’t really complain,” Will says. “And you should definitely bring pie to practice.”

Bitty does. The very next time Tommy has practice, Bitty brings a selection of pies: apple maple, blueberry, chocolate. Nothing with nuts, nothing that anyone could be allergic to. After practice, Bitty dishes up plates for each of the kids and they sit around on the floor in their stocking feet munching away. Will and Derek aren’t there that day, but Will’s sister is, and she sits down next to Bitty with a big smile on.

“So you’re Tommy’s dad, right?” she asks, accepting the blueberry pie. “I think Nat and Maddie are trying to adopt him.”

“Yeah, I am,” Bitty agrees, smiling at the thought. Sure enough, Tommy is sitting between Maddie and Nat. He’s learned that the girls are only seven, but they come from more substantial stock than Bitty’s family of hobbit folk. “And yeah, I think they might be.”

Tommy’s just delighted to have made friends with the girls, and he spent the entire week telling Bitty about them in great detail, much more detail than he had for anyone in his first grade class.

“I’m Assumpta,” Will’s sister says, offering Bitty her hand to shake. “You’re Eric? Or was it Bitty? Derek was being vague about it.”

“Either works,” Bitty says, shaking her hand. They’re about the same height, which makes him feel even smaller than he’d felt standing next to Will and Derek, but he shakes it off. Tommy’s happy and he’s making friends with Assumpta’s daughter, and that matters  more.

“This pie is fantastic,” Assumpta says, taking a huge bite. She looks across the group of small folk to Coach Z, who’s talking to Ainsley. Ainsley has three slices of pie on her plate. Coach Z has none.

“Hey! Jack! Get a piece of pie! It’s not going to kill you!” Assumpta calls.

“Oh, his name’s Jack?” Bitty asks.

“Did you not meet last week?” Assumpta asks.

“Not officially,” Bitty says.

Assumpta rolls her eyes. “Jack! Get over here!”

Coach Z – Jack, apparently – excuses himself from the conversation he’s having with Ainsley and crosses over to them. It wasn’t that Bitty _hadn’t_ noticed the man was absurdly gorgeous last practice, but he hadn’t really registered it on a very basic level. It hadn’t sunk in – Jack’s perfect cheekbones, or the softness of his hair, or the sheer solidness of him. Whatever he does when he’s not coaching peewee hockey must require a lot of athleticism from him, Bitty decides.

“Yeah?” Jack asks. Assumpta pats the bench next to her and Jack sits obediently.

“Eat a piece of pie, Jack,” Assumpta says. “And introduce yourself properly to Tommy’s dad. Like a civilised human being.”

Jack flushes a little and Bitty wonders how old he is. Maddie is seven, so assuming Jack went the normal route towards acquiring a child, he’s probably a few years older than Bitty.

“Sorry,” Jack says while Bitty serves him up a piece of maple apple. “I’m Jack.”

“Bitty,” Bitty says, smiling at him around Assumpta.

“Nice to meet you,” Jack says. Assumpta elbows him. “And I’m sorry if I was rude last week. I didn’t mean to not introduce myself. Tommy’s a solid skater.”

Bitty grins, partially because Jack had paid a compliment to his kid, but mostly because Jack seems to be as awkward with adults as he is good with kids.

“Well he should be,” Bitty says. “Both of his parents were figure skaters once.”

“You figure skated?” Assumpta asks, sounding genuinely fascinated.

“Yeah,” Bitty agrees. “I was pretty good sometimes.”

Assumpta smiles at him and serves Jack a piece of pie. She picks the apple maple, Bitty notes, and wonders if it’s because Jack is Canadian. He doesn’t ask.

“And your…wife? Girlfriend?” Assumpta tries.

Bitty winces and tries for a moment to figure out the best description. The most obvious is what he goes for. “Tommy’s mom.”

A furrow appears in Assumpta’s brow, but she doesn’t comment. “Tommy’s mom figure skated too?”

“Yeah,” Bitty agrees. That’s a story for another time though, so it’s time to change the subject. Immediately. “Oh, and Jack? I’m always free after five, so if you need extra chaperones for anything, I’m pretty much always available.”

“Oh, thanks,” Jack says, nodding and taking a bite of his pie. His eyes widen, and Bitty tries to suppress the smug smile threatening to break out on his face. “This is really good.”

“I do bake professionally,” Bitty replies.

Anything else he could say is interrupted by a small group of adults walking into the rink. The two men are quite large – one massive and blond, one slightly shorter and strawberry – and the woman is stunning. She’s got honey blonde hair not all that different from Bitty’s and pretty amber eyes, and Maddie immediately jumps up and runs over to her, throwing her arms around her waist.

Bitty offers an awkward smile while Maddie says something to her and then the two of them make their way towards him, Assumpta, and Jack. Nat has leapt up and swarmed the strawberry haired man and Assumpta abandons their group so she can go kiss him hello.

The giant blond man is tackled by four of the kids, does a quick headcount, waves goodbye to Jack, and leaves the rink with the four kids still attached to his various limbs.

“Mom, this is Tommy’s dad,” Maddie says, pulling the blonde woman over by the hand.

“Jack Zimmermann are you eating pie?” Maddie’s mom asks, genuine shock in her voice.

“My fault,” Bitty says, catching Tommy as he runs towards them and pulling him onto one of his legs. “I own a bakery.”

He’s trying not to think about the fact Jack looks remarkably guilty and has flushed, most closely resembling a child with his hand caught in the cookie jar.

“Aha,” Maddie’s mom says. “Maddie said something about that. I’m Camilla.”

“Bitty,” Bitty replies, shaking the hand he’s offered. “It’s lovely to meet you. Your daughter is a great skater.”

Maddie smiles at him and looks up at her mom with the same big grin. Jack, Bitty realises, has said nothing during the whole exchange.

“So you must be Tommy?” Camilla asks.

Tommy nods and hides his face in the crook of Bitty’s neck.

“Sorry, he’s still practicing selective shyness,” Bitty says, standing up and letting Tommy hang from his side. “It was lovely to meet y’all, but we should probably be getting home. I’m having friends over for dinner.”

“Oh of course,” Camilla says. “It was nice to meet you too. Maddie seems to like Tommy.”

Maddie’s eyes widen at this accusation and she turns to her father.

“ _Papa. C’est pas vrais, Papa!  Je l’aime mais je ne l’adore pas! Papa,_ ” she insists while Jack gives her a small smile.

“ _Madeline, nous ne pouvons pas parler le français devant ta mere. Elle ne le comprend pas et cela la rend folle,_ ” Jack says.

Camilla frowns down at him and Jack gives her a wry smile before looking back at his pie. Bitty, who has no idea what Jack or Maddie have just said – except that Maddie’s name is apparently Madeline which is just so adorable – decides it’s really time for him to bow out if he’s going to have time to finish dinner before Shitty and Lardo get to his house.

“Well, I’ll see y’all next week!” he says, setting Tommy down and sending him to get his skates. Tommy hugs Nat goodbye and they leave for the car. The whole drive home, Tommy doesn’t stop talking about how much Nat and Maddie are his new best friends, and how he likes Sam and Ellie and Marco and Josh and Kevin and everyone on the team and Coach A and Coach Z are the best. Bitty can’t stop smiling at how happy Tommy is, and lets him sit on the counter while he makes dinner so that Tommy can keep talking.

Shitty and Lardo get there about fifteen minutes later than planned, which is remarkably early for them, and Lardo immediately presents Tommy with a new stuffed animal. Tommy hugs her and starts babbling at them about his hockey team.

“When did you sign Tommy up for hockey?” Shitty asks, leaning against the counter next to Bitty while Lardo listens to Tommy’s explanation of his teammates.

“Last week,” Bitty says. He shrugs. “He wanted to play.”

“Isn’t he a little…small?” Shitty asks.

“Two of the girls on the team have sort of adopted him,” Bitty says. “It’s working out.”

“Aww, he’s got little friends?” Shitty says, looking delighted. Bitty laughs. “And the coach or coaches are good?”

“Yeah, they’re great,” Bitty says. “The assistant coach is a fourteen year old girl, who’s apparently _very_ good at hockey herself and her dads have to stuff their fingers in their ears whenever someone mentions juniors or the Olympics because it gives them heart palpitations.”

“Her dads?” Shitty replies with an interested eyebrow raise. “Hey! Maybe they can find you a boyfriend!”

Bitty glares at him. They’ve had this conversation more times than he can count. Shitty is desperate for Bitty to not be single, Bitty refuses to drag anyone into Tommy’s life who’s just going to leave, and they remain at an impasse.

“Ugh, fine,” Shitty says. “What about the actual adult coach? One of the assistant coach’s dads?”

“No, his name’s Jack,” Bitty says.

“Jack what? Is he cute?” Shitty asks.

“Lord, Shitty, you’re gonna drive me crazy,” Bitty informs him, taking the casserole out of the oven. “Yes, he’s cute, so are his daughter Madeline and his wife Camilla.”

“Oh,” Shitty says, looking disappointed. “How’d he get into coaching peewee hockey?”

“I dunno,” Bitty says, shrugging and pouring dressing over the salad. It’s a good question, he realises. Once Shitty and Lardo have gone home for the night and he’s finished reading Tommy to bed (they’re working their way through the Roald Dahl canon, and Bitty’s very excited for next year when they can start reading Harry Potter) he opens his laptop and types Jack Zimmermann Providence RI into the search bar.

What comes up is…not what he’s expecting.

The first thing he does is click the link to the Wikipedia page because apparently Jack has his own Wikipedia page and sure enough, that’s him. The picture has him on the ice in a red jersey with a C on the front and a quick scan reveals that it’s the home jersey for the Montreal Canadiens. Bitty blinks in shock and starts reading.

_Jack Laurent Zimmermann (born 3 August 1990) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played 13 seasons in the NHL from 2010-2023, and is considered one of the best hockey players of all time. Raised in Montreal, Quebec Zimmermann grew up on the ice with his father Robert “Bad Bob” Zimmermann, and was allowed to join the QMJHL at fifteen instead of the usual sixteen, where he played with Rimouski-Oceanic and won the Memorial Cup along with former teammate Kent Parson. Zimmermann retired in 2023 after the Stanley Cup finals. _

Bitty’s eyes don’t get any less wide as he scrolls through the Wikipedia page. There are lists of trophies and acclaims that Bitty doesn’t know, there are Olympic gold medals, there are Stanley Cups, and this is the man coaching his son’s peewee league hockey.

**_Personal Life_ **

_Zimmermann was raised by his parents Robert “Bad Bob” Zimmermann and Alicia Zimmermann, an American actress and model. In his early childhood, Zimmermann starred with his mother in several movies before turning to hockey after his father. A very public childhood culminated with a widely speculated upon overdose the night before the 2009 NHL draft, which lost Zimmermann the top spot to Rimouski-Oceanic teammate and co-captain Kent Parson. It was later revealed that Zimmermann had overdosed on prescription anxiety medication, and spent the year between the draft and his signing with the Providence Falconers partially in rehab and partially coaching a peewee hockey league in Montreal. Equally speculated on was the relationship between Parson and Zimmermann, although neither will comment on it. _

_Zimmermann is a spokesperson for You Can Play, and keeps the rest of his personal life private. In an interview in 2017 he revealed that he had a daughter, although both his daughter’s name as well as the identity of her mother have been kept private. _

Bitty closes the Wikipedia page and his internet browser, and then immediately opens them back up and googles Jack again. The images tab has pictures of him in Providence Falconers blue, the red of the Montreal Canadiens, and a picture of him at age something very small being held over the Stanley Cup by his horrified parents. Bitty realises he recognises Alicia Zimmermann, which leads him to her IMDb page, and before he knows it, he’s tumbled into a Wikipedia freefall about the Zimmermann family and hockey in general. He discovers around four in the morning that Assumpta’s husband, Andrew Sewick, plays for the Falconers and has since Jack’s time with them.

He’s pretty much a nervous wreck by the time he drops Tommy off at school in the morning and gets to the bakery. To make it even better, Ainsley’s dad Derek is sitting in one of the corners sipping a coffee and eating a mini tart.

“Oh! Hey Bitty!” he says, lifting a hand and waving.

Bitty crosses to him immediately and sits down without waiting for an invitation.

“Your brother-in-law is an NHL player,” he accuses.

“Yeah,” Derek says like this isn’t somehow a big deal.

“Jack – who my son calls Coach Z – has won _multiple_ Olympic gold medals,” Bitty continues.

Derek raises his eyebrows. “Bro, did you not…you didn’t know who Jack was?”

“No!” Bitty insists.

Derek stifles a laugh and looks across the bakery. “Hey! Everyone! Who here knows who Jack Zimmermann is?”

Everyone in the bakery looks confused at being asked, but to Bitty’s dismay, they all raise their hands.

“I’m from Georgia!” Bitty insists. “We have football!”

“And now your tiny, adorable son plays hockey,” Derek says. “So catch up, buttercup.”

“See if I feed you pie again,” Bitty grumbles, finally stalking off to the kitchen.

Derek ends up staying in the bakery the whole day and says goodbye when Bitty kicks everyone out so they can close.

“We’re having a barbeque for some friends this weekend,” Derek says. “You and Tommy should come.”

“Are y’all gonna give me a crash course in hockey?” Bitty asks.

“Sure,” Derek says, grinning. “Here, I’ll text you the details.”

They swap numbers and Derek disappears to wherever he’s going, leaving Bitty to go collect Tommy from after-school care. Tommy grins at him and shows him the picture he’s drawn that appears to be of himself, Maddie, and Nat in their hockey uniforms.

“Mr Bittle, can I talk to you for a second?” Tommy’s after-school care supervisor asks, directing Bitty over to her corner desk.

“Sure,” Bitty says. “Tommy, would you go get your backpack and get ready to go home?”

“Okay Daddy!” Tommy says, running off to the cubbies.

Bitty directs his attention to the supervisor and fixes a pleasant smile on his face. He doesn’t really like her very much, since she seems to think Tommy is a problem. He braces himself for the conversation he’s been having over and over again for the past six years, the one that starts with “oh, you’re a single father? Does Tommy’s mother have any influence on his life? No? Are you sure you’re…old enough/qualified/capable of that?”

“I’m just a little concerned,” she says. “Tommy doesn’t really talk to any of the other children. And over the past two weeks he seems to have made a few imaginary friends?”

“Imaginary friends?” Bitty asks. He doesn’t need to address Tommy’s not talking to the other kids because he came to the confusing realisation that somehow his son, a child born of his own flesh, is an introvert, and that’s fine. Tommy talks all the time at home and he’s started blabbering at his teammates at hockey, so Bitty’s not worried about that.

“Two girls named Maddie and Nat,” the supervisor says. “Apparently this ‘Maddie’ is teaching him French. I think he developed her based on the Madeline books we read.”

Bitty keeps his fixed smile on his face and pulls out his phone, opening his photos to show her the picture he’d taken yesterday of Tommy sitting between Maddie and Nat on the bench with their hockey gear on.

“That’s Maddie,” he says, pointing her out. “That one’s Nat. They all play hockey together, and I promise you, they are not imaginary.”

The supervisor flushes and then glowers at him. “Perhaps I can speak to Tommy’s mother sometime instead. Woman to woman.”

“Good luck,” Bitty says, his smile disappearing.

“Is she not local?” the supervisor asks. She sounds entirely unsurprised that Bitty would be single.

“You could say that since she’s dead,” Bitty replies. The supervisor blanches. “But you’re welcome to fly down to Madison, Georgia and talk to her grave sometime if you want. I do.”

The supervisor just stares at him, and Bitty stares right back until Tommy runs up and pulls on his hand.

“Daddy, can we get ice cream on our way home?” he asks.

“Sure thing, sugar,” Bitty says, ruffling his hair. “You didn’t tell me Maddie’s teaching you French.”

“Just a little,” Tommy says.

“Yeah?” Bitty asks. “Can you say something?”

“ _Je veux une glace,_ ” Tommy replies with dedicated pronunciation of each word.

“And what’s that mean?” Bitty asks, completely ignoring the supervisor now.

“It means I want ice cream,” Tommy says. He grins toothily up at Bitty.

“Alright, then let’s go get some,” Bitty says. He lets Tommy pull him out of the school and down the street towards their favourite ice cream shop. It’s still September so it’s not cold enough to make ice cream sound like a bad idea.

It’s still September, only the second week of school, so Bitty could definitely transfer Tommy to another school without it being disruptive. It might be a pain, getting to a different school since this one’s in walking distance, but that woman is the only one who runs an after-school programme there, and – and Bitty’s going to drive himself crazy thinking about it.

They get their ice cream and head home with their cones. Tommy tells him all about his day, about how they’re doing addition and spelling and how he reads better than anyone in his class. Bitty asks if he wants to go to a barbeque at Coach A’s house this weekend and Tommy is over the moon.

Derek and Will have a very nice house, Bitty discovers. They’ve got a yard and everything is very understated, but very expensive. Bitty can’t figure out why until he catches sight of the bookshelf and sees a stack of the same book by a Derek Nurse. He grabs it and flips to the author picture in the back and discovers it’s Derek.

“Oh, yeah, he writes sometimes,” Ainsley says on her way through the living room. Bitty gapes at her while she squats down at Tommy’s eye level. “Hey! Maddie and Nat are outside already. We were gonna play tag. You in?”

Tommy nods, blushing, and waves goodbye to Bitty before running out to the back yard with Ainsley. Bitty smiles and finds his way to the kitchen. Will is there, along with Assumpta and the large blond man Bitty had seen at practice.

“You’re Tommy’s dad, right?” the man asks, holding out his hand. “I’m Adam.”

“Eric, but everyone calls me Bitty,” Bitty says. “Which kids are yours?”

“Which aren’t, bro,” Adam replies.

When Bitty can only smile awkwardly, Assumpta takes pity on him.

“Those four,” she says, pointing at a gaggle of kids through the kitchen window. They’re being chased by a tall, good looking black guy who is very quickly tackled by them. They all scream “papa” in his direction, and Bitty blinks.

Adam is also watching this happen with a warm smile on his face.

“And that’s my husband Justin,” Adam says. “Do you have anyone or is it just you and Tommy?”

“Just me and Tommy,” Bitty says, grateful for the option as well as the gender neutral pronouns. It reminds him, however, of his unpleasant conversation with the supervisor. “Hey, where do y’all send your kids to school?”

This launches a lengthy conversation about the best elementary schools in Providence that Will does everything he can to stay out of since he and Derek acquired Ainsley when she was in middle school, and as soon as Jack appears from the backyard, he’s dragged into the conversation as well. By the time they’re ready to eat, Bitty has a whole list of suggestions as well as promises from Assumpta and Adam to help him look and, in Adam’s case, a promise to fight any administrators who try to stop him.

They eat outside since it’s probably the last moment it’ll be warm enough to do so, and besides, it’s far easier to clean up after the kids if they’re eating on the grass. Bitty finds himself sitting next to Jack, who’s watching the kids with a whether eye.

“Camilla couldn’t make it?” Bitty asks with an attempt at casual that doesn’t betray the fact he’s spent an unhealthy amount of time google stalking Jack.

“Oh, uh, no,” Jack says. He doesn’t offer any information on where she is instead, so Bitty just lets it go.

After they all finish eating, they have a game of flag football, featuring the parents. After the first round, Jack and Maddie are forbidden from playing on the same team since they whisper plays to each other in French and then beat everyone else. Then they have to have a game of kids versus parents, and Bitty is proud to say that the parents team – featuring two professional athletes – loses miserably.

“Daddy,” Tommy says, pulling on Bitty’s hand as everyone’s getting ready to leave. “Can Maddie spend the night?”

Bitty blinks. Tommy’s never had a sleepover before, never had a friend close enough to spend the night.

“What about Nat?” Bitty asks cautiously.

“They’re going to Rock-Chester to visit her Nana tomorrow,” Tommy says. “But can Maddie stay the night please please please--”

“Well I’ll have to ask Jack,” Bitty says. Tommy blinks baleful eyes at him while Bitty walks over to where Jack is standing with Maddie. She has the same expression on as Tommy.

“ _Non, tu dois l’appele, ma petite,”_ Jack says before noticing Bitty. Whatever he’s said makes Maddie roll her eyes and take Jack’s cell phone. She dials a number and holds it to her ear.

“Tommy’s never had a sleepover before,” Bitty says.

“ _Daddy_ ,” Tommy gasps as though Bitty’s just revealed his darkest secret. 

Jack smiles and Bitty thinks his heart flips over. Which is…not good.

“ _Bonjour, maman, puis-je – desol –_ sorry,” Maddie says into the phone. “Can I spend the night at Tommy’s? Dad says it’s okay. Yeah, I know, that’s why he said I had to ask you. Cool! Thanks Mom!”

She hangs up and gives the phone back to Jack.

“She said yes,” she says, grinning at Bitty and Jack.

“And you’ve got pyjamas in the car, right?” Jack asks. Maddie nods. “And Manchie?”

“ _Papa_ ,” Maddie says in the same tone of voice Tommy had used to berate Bitty earlier.

“What?” Jack asks. “It’s a perfectly reasonable question.”

“Who’s Manchie?” Bitty asks.

“My penguin,” Maddie says in a small voice.

“I’ve got a bunny,” Tommy says. “His name is Bunny. Maybe they can be friends.”

Maddie smiles at him and Bitty’s pretty sure his heart breaks a little from how adorable it is.

“A bunny named Bunny?” Jack asks, the corners of his eyes crinkling like he’s trying not to laugh.

“Creativity isn’t really…” Bitty starts, trying to justify his son’s lack of exciting nomenclature for a stuffed rabbit. “Where did Maddie get Manchie?”

Unexpectedly, Jack flushes. “ _Manchot_ is the French word for penguin.”

“Oh! So you’re going to tease us for having a bunny named Bunny but you’ve got a penguin that’s more or less named Pengie,” Bitty accuses, raising his eyebrow at Jack.

“I guess so,” Jack says, and he’s really smiling at Bitty now. Bitty’s heart does that stupid stuttering thing in his chest again.

They say goodbye to everyone and have to promise a tearful Nat that all three of them can have a sleepover next weekend. They stop outside and Jack fishes in a truck for a duffle bag and a beat up penguin, both of which he hands to Maddie.

“And you’re going to do everything Bitty says, right?” Jack asks, hugging Maddie tightly.

“ _Oui, papa,”_ Maddie agrees. Bitty’s French is good enough to understand that much. “ _Je t’aime!”_

“ _Je t’aime aussi, ma petite,_ ” Jack says. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning around…”

He looks to Bitty for some time confirmation.

“We’ll probably have breakfast around eight,” Bitty says. “What do you think? French toast?”

Maddie and Tommy agree enthusiastically and help themselves into the backseat of Bitty’s car. Bitty checks to make sure they’re securely buckled in and closes the door. He gives Jack his address and makes sure they have each other’s phone numbers.

“Oh, I should give you Camilla’s number too,” Jack says, typing that in as well. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

“Have a good night,” Bitty says, smiling at him.

When they get home, Tommy and Maddie want to watch Disney movies and Bitty can’t deny them that. Bunny and Manchie join them in a bundle of blankets on the living room floor, and true to Tommy’s prediction, it appears the stuffies have become friends. Both kids are asleep by the time the movie finishes and Bitty almost disturbs them to take them back to Tommy’s room, but they’re piled under a stack of blankets and quilts, most of which Bitty’s MooMaw made, and they’re too adorable to move. Bitty snaps a picture and retreats to his room with the door cracked should either of them need anything. After he’s brushed his teeth and put on his pyjamas, he climbs into bed. To his surprise, there’s a text from Jack waiting for him.

==Jack Zimmermann==

 **Jack:** Everything good? I’m about to call it a night and thought I should check.

 **Me:** [attached picture of their adorable children asleep]

 **Jack:** Bunny looks like he’s been through the wringer a few times

 **Me:** back in the day he was Señor Bun and was mine. So yeah, once or twice. Not that Manchie looks much better ;)

 **Jack:** my dad played for the Pens when I was a kid.

==

Bitty does a quick second’s googling and discovers that by “the Pens” Jack means the Pittsburgh Penguins, a hockey team. Bad Bob Zimmermann had played for them for a while in the early nineties.

==Jack Zimmermann==

 **Me:** nice to know I’m not the only one who gave their kid their old stuffed animal :) 

 **Jack:** ha, Camilla always thought it was a good idea for when I was on away games, since it reminded Maddie of me or something.

==

Bitty curses under his breath. Because right. Jack is super straight married and has a seven year old who is currently asleep in Bitty’s living room. But they can be friends, Bitty is perfectly capable of being friends with the most attractive man he’s personally encountered. And it’s better that way, because their kids are friends.

==Jack Zimmermann==

 **Me:** Do you think it helped?

 **Jack:** I don’t really know. I think she likes me most of the time? And isn’t too mad that I wasn’t around a whole lot when she was little? But she’s only seven, so I don’t really know.

 **Me:** She speaks French pretty well! J

 **Me:** Apparently she’s teaching Tommy French.

 **Jack:** she said something about that. It’s a good skill, being bilingual. Camilla speaks Spanish, so she gets a little annoyed about the fact Maddie speaks French.

 **Me:** so do you mind if I ask? What do you do now that you’ve retired from hockey?

 **Jack:** I coach peewee hockey.

 **Me:** I mean besides that.

 **Jack:** I have the privilege and the luxury of being a stay-at-home dad.

==

 _And a very pretty house husband,_ Bitty thinks before mentally slapping himself.

==Jack Zimmermann==

 **Me:** I guess you don’t have to worry about Maddie being in after-school programmes do you L

 **Jack:** no. That’s what you were talking about with Assumpta and Adam at the barbeque, right?

 **Me:** Yeah. The awful woman who runs the programme at Tommy’s school always wants to talk to Tommy’s mother instead of me. Which would be bearable if she was actually around.

==

Bitty wants to mentally slap himself again. He doesn’t know why he does this, although he’s pretty sure Shitty’s got theories. He never leads with “Tanya died in childbirth and I had to fight her parents for custody of my son.” He always phrases it differently. She’s “not available” or “not around” or just simply “gone.”

And he doesn’t know why he’s telling Jack that anyway.

==Jack Zimmermann==

 **Me:** but apparently she was worried because Tommy kept talking about his “imaginary friends” Maddie and Nat

 **Jack:** Tommy’s after-school programme supervisor thinks my daughter is a collective hallucination?

 **Me:** apparently

 **Jack:** what time does Tommy get out of school?

 **Me:** three. Why?

 **Jack:** Maddie and I usually go to museums and do homework after school when there’s not hockey. Tommy could come with us if he wanted?

 **Me:** that sounds amazing, and is definitely something we should talk about when it’s not 12:17 in the morning.

 **Jack:** Oh. Right. I’ll be by tomorrow morning.

 **Me:** goodnight Jack

 **Jack:** goodnight Bitty

==

Bitty locks his phone and plugs it in before pressing his pillow over his face and resisting the temptation to scream. He sends a single text to Shitty that says nothing besides, “I have a crush on a married straight man.”

* * *

 

Bitty wakes up before the kids by a margin of minutes. He has time to brush his teeth and start a pot of coffee before they stumble into the kitchen all bleary eyed. Tommy hugs Bitty’s leg and Maddie leans against him as well. Bitty wants to grab a hairbrush and try to fix the chaos that is her hair, but he’s not sure she’ll let him.

Bitty promises to get breakfast done in a timely fashion, but they won’t leave him be. He sighs and accepts his fate, doing everything he can not to spill coffee on them while he makes his way around the kitchen, collecting the things he needs for French toast. He’s got the last of the year’s strawberries to put on it and a jar of real maple syrup. Maddie’s eyes light up when she sees it.

“Oh good you have real syrup!” she says. “My mom likes the Aunt Jemima one.”

“That’s what they’ve got where I’m from too,” Bitty says. “And Mrs Buttersworth. But then I moved up here and there was all this awesome real syrup. How does your dad feel about your mom liking the fake kind?”

“He thinks it’s silly,” Maddie replies. Bitty smiles, because he can perfectly imagine Jack Zimmermann telling his kid in a very serious voice that her mother was being silly.

“Why don’t you two go set the table for breakfast?” Bitty suggests, nudging them away from the stove so he can actually make the French toast.

They’re just finishing putting napkins and forks down when there’s a knock on the door. Bitty frowns, and then realises it must be Jack, just very early. Maddie and Tommy run to get the door and sure enough, it is.

“Sorry, am I too early?” Jack asks.

“You’re just in time if you’re staying for breakfast,” Bitty says, smiling at him.

He wonders briefly just how much flirting he can get away with under the guise of southern hospitality, and then mentally kicks himself because Jack is _married_ and Bitty is not going to be that guy.

“Please stay Papa!” Maddie says.

“If you’ve got enough food?” Jack says.

“Oh sure,” Bitty says. “The strawberries are gonna be a little thin, but we’ll manage.”

“They’ve even got real syrup,” Maddie says with bright eyes.

“Oh really?” Jack asks. Maddie and Tommy nod and then run off to the living room so that Manchie and Bunny can have another playdate.

“Coffee?” Bitty offers, grabbing a mug out of the cupboard anyway.

“Thank you,” Jack says. “Sorry I’m early. I don’t really know what to do with myself in the mornings if Maddie’s not there.”

Bitty’s pretty sure he just dissolved into a pile of mush and is so glad that Jack doesn’t seem to notice.

“I should’ve just invited you to breakfast in the first place,” Bitty says, pouring him a cup. “Do you need cream or sugar?”

“No, thanks,” Jack says. The mug is comically small in his hand and Bitty despairs. “Can I ask about Tommy’s mom?”

Bitty winces. “Maybe not right now. Tragic backstory works better when it’s not sunny out.”

Jack looks concerned but nods.

Bitty sends him to corral Tommy and Maddie to the table while he carries the French toast and strawberries out. He looks up to see Jack standing in the living room with Maddie tossed over one shoulder like a sack of potatoes and Tommy slung under his arm like he weighs nothing. Both kids giggle and happily dig into their breakfasts once Jack puts them down.

“So Tommy,” Jack says. “What are you doing after school tomorrow before hockey?”

“I have after-school,” Tommy says. He sounds glum about it, Bitty notes. Maybe Bitty should figure out how to leave the bakery earlier, get to Tommy’s school at three and collect him, save him from the indignity of the woman there. But three is after his college students have left for the day and before his high schoolers are available so it’s when he’s there alone. Maybe he could close for the twenty minutes it would take to go get Tommy, but there’s always customers then.

“Well I think Maddie and I were going to go to the zoo,” Jack says. Bitty sees Tommy’s eyes light up with what can only be cautious optimism. “Maybe you could come with us?”

“Daddy, can I?” Tommy asks, turning quickly enough to look at Bitty that he drags his elbow through his syrup.

“Well sure,” Bitty says. Tommy and Maddie start enthusing wildly about the zoo, discussing very seriously which animals they’re going to see. Tommy wants to see the giraffes most, which is news to Bitty.

Jack watches them chatter happily with a soft smile on his face and Bitty just wants to kiss him. Instead, he catches Jack’s eye and mouths “thank you.”

“And I can just take them both straight to hockey,” Jack offers when it’s finally time for Maddie to go home. This was, of course, _after_ the kids had wheedled a rewatching of _Tangled_ out of them, and then because it was time for lunch, Jack and Maddie just _had_ to stay for lunch, and if Bitty didn’t know Jack was married, he’d have sworn he was doing everything he could not to leave.

“Oh, sure!” Bitty says. “And I’ll come pick Tommy up with some pie for everyone. Or should I do cupcakes?”

“Cupcakes!” Tommy and Maddie exclaim. They start shouting flavours at them until Jack has to pick Maddie up in order to get her out the door.

“I’ll make sure the school knows you’re picking Tommy up,” Bitty says. “And you’ve got my number in case of anything. He’s not allergic to anything I know of, not bees or peanuts or even cats or--”

“Daddy, can we get a cat?” Tommy interrupts, looking up at Bitty with pleading eyes. “Maddie’s got a cat!”

“You do?” Bitty asks.

“Socks,” Jack supplies. He nods at Maddie. “Another victim of childhood naming.”

“Papa! You can’t chirp me in front of people!” Maddie insists.

“Chirp?” Bitty repeats.

“Tease,” Jack translates. “It’s a hockey term. And Socks probably wants to see his favourite girl, don’t you think, _ma petite?_ ”

“ _Oui papa,”_ Maddie says with a tired sigh. “ _À demain_ Tommy!”

“ _À demain!_ ” Tommy says back. Bitty doesn’t know what it means, but they seem to think it’s a good thing. Bitty says goodbye to Jack and then the Zimmermanns are gone.

Bitty and Tommy stand in the doorway for a moment.

“I’m serious about the cat,” Tommy informs him with a decisive nod.

“We’ll talk about it,” Bitty promises.

* * *

 

Jack texts Bitty constantly from the zoo. There are pictures of Tommy and Maddie looking at the giraffes, going on the safari walk, eating ice cream cones. And a text that explains someone mistook Maddie and Tommy for siblings and wanted to know how much older Maddie was than her little brother.

“Bits? You’ve been glued to your phone for an hour,” Shitty says when he stops in for a mini pie and a cup of coffee on a late afternoon break. “Everything okay? This is worse than normal. Is it the straight married man you’re mooning over?”

“Sort of,” Bitty admits. “He took Tommy to the zoo.”

“You’re sure he’s straight and married?” Shitty asks, looking at the pictures Bitty’s been receiving.

“Pretty sure,” Bitty says.

“What’s his name again?” Shitty asks. “Because I’ve got friends in the county records office who could probably have his marriage legally dissolved.” 

“Jack,” Bitty says. “Zimmermann.”

Shitty spits out his coffee. “Holy shit, Bits! You’re flirting with Jack motherfucking Zimmermann? The Canadian Adonis? Bitty! He brought the fucking Stanley Cup back to Canada!”

“Is that a big deal?” Bitty asks.

“Considering that it had been thirty years? Yeah! It’s a big fucking deal,” Shitty says. “Especially since that game was the one that made him retire, Jesus.”

“What happened?” Bitty asks. Because it wasn’t that long ago, last year he thinks.

“He broke his leg when one of the Stars checked him right after he sent the winning shot to the net,” Shitty says. He looks dreamy for a second. “It was all tied up, two to two in the seventh game of the Stanley Cup, thirty seconds left in regulation, and Zimmermann shot it towards the goal, got checked by the fucking goon the Stars were playing, and he crumpled to the ice, distracted everyone including the Stars goalie, and the puck went in man. It was the most poetic moment of hockey history.”

Bitty blinks.

“Habs won three to two, and Zimmermann announced his retirement as soon as he was out of recovery,” Shitty says. “And now he’s your son’s peewee hockey coach.”

Bitty just stares until the bell over the door rings. He looks up and grins.

“And he’s walking through the door,” Bitty says.

“Daddy!” Tommy exclaims, running behind the counter to tackle Bitty around the knees. “We’re just saying hi before hockey.”

“Yeah? And you’re not gonna say hi to me, sport?” Shitty asks.

“Uncle Shitty!” Tommy exclaims, leaving Bitty alone and grabbing Shitty instead.

“Excuse me?” Jack asks, his eyes wide at Shitty’s moniker.

“Terrible hockey nickname,” Shitty says, holding out his hand like he’s cool as a cucumber. “My first name is literally the letter B, someone said ‘bruh, that’s BS’ back when I was at Andover, and that was the end.”

“Nice to meet you,” Jack says.

Maddie detaches from his side and hugs Bitty quickly before returning.

“Just thought we’d say hi before we head to the rink,” Jack says.

“Well I’m glad you did,” Bitty replies. “It’s always good to see my favourite boy.”

He just barely stops himself from making it plural and Shitty seems to notice based on the smug look he’s sending in Bitty’s direction.

“We’ll see you after hockey,” Jack says, shepherding the kids out of the bakery.

Tommy and Maddie wave goodbye and then the three of them are gone, leaving Bitty and Shitty staring after them.

“Was that your husband Mr Bitty?” one of Bitty’s employees asks.

“I wish, Tony,” Bitty sighs before realising what he’s said. “Don’t tell anyone I just said that.”

“No sir,” Tony replies, hurriedly returning to the register.

“Bits?” Shitty says. “You’ve got it bad.”

* * *

 

Bitty’s misplaced crush doesn’t get any better over the next few weeks. Jack starts taking Tommy out more and more, bringing back fanciful stories of what they’ve done together and how much Tommy likes both Jack and Maddie. He never mentions Camilla and Bitty can’t help but wonder if Tommy doesn’t like her.

Jack also starts staying for meals, popping by for dinner along with Maddie after they’ve had an afternoon of activity. Absurdly, Bitty can’t help but wonder if Jack is lonely, or if he has any close friends in Providence aside from the other parents of hockey kids. Somehow, Bitty doesn’t think he spends a lot of time with them. If he does, it’s not nearly as much time as he spends with Bitty. When Bitty asks, he learns that with the exception of Assumpta’s husband Drew – who they all call Snowy for reasons that escape Bitty – everyone Jack played with when he played for the Falconers has since been traded elsewhere or retired and moved home.

By the time it’s been a month of this, Bitty is feeling the absurd need to buy his son’s affections back since Jack and Maddie are the only things Tommy ever talks about. Well, that, and the fact he wants a cat.

So they go to the pet shelter. Bitty has resolved to let Tommy pick the cat out, is prepared to have the conversation about why they can’t get a kitten, and lets him run down the aisle of cat cages. Tommy stops at the very end and points at the cat there. A fluffy black paw sticks out and touches Tommy’s finger. Bitty can hear it purring from three cages down.

Its fur is long and fluffy in a dusty black colour that makes it look like it’s been rolling in dust, even though Bitty doesn’t think that’s the case. It’s eyes are a disturbing shade of yellow and it’s somewhat walleyed. Its little face is squished and it has vampire fangs that protrude over its bottom lip. It is the ugliest cat Bitty has ever seen.

“That one,” Tommy says, pointing at it. The cat purrs like someone replaced its innards with a V8 motor.

“Are you sure, honey?” the volunteer asks, exchanging a worried look with Tommy.

“His name is Peaches,” Tommy helpfully informs her. 

“You’re sure you don’t want a k--” she starts, but Bitty shoots her a look. He can deal with Peaches the abominable cat, because it won’t stop purring. He’s also pretty sure Peaches is the same size as Tommy.

“We’ll take him!” Bitty says brightly.

Peaches doesn’t want to go in the cat carrier but seems fine with the car in general. After Bitty has Tommy buckled into the car seat, he hands Peaches over. Without protest, Peaches sits in Tommy’s lap and is indeed almost the same size as Bitty’s six year old.

“He’s buzzing,” Tommy says, his voice muffled from Peaches’ fur. Bitty glances in the rear view mirror. All he can see of Tommy is a shock of blond hair and his hands where he’s holding Peaches around the middle. Peaches’ eyes are almost closed.

“He’s purring,” Bitty says, because he can hear Peaches from there. “Cats do that when they’re happy.”

“I love him,” Tommy says.

“Good because he’s your cat,” Bitty says.

They get home and Peaches wanders through the house getting to know his new location. Eventually he trots back to the living room, jumps up on the couch, and sprawls across Tommy’s legs.

“Here, smile and I’ll send a picture to Jack,” Bitty says. “So he and Maddie can see our new friend.”

“Socks is prettier,” Tommy says, running his fingers through Peaches’ fluffy fur. “But I like Peaches better.”

Bitty laughs and takes a picture of the two of them.

==Jack Zimmermann==

 **Me:** My only excuse is that I am a sucker for puppydog eyes.

==

While the picture sends, Bitty’s phone buzzes. He frowns and takes it out, only to see a text from Jack. The photo hasn’t sent yet, it’s still thinking about it, but there’s a response to his first message.

==Jack Zimmermann==

 **Jack:** I’ll keep that in mind.

==

Bitty tries to come up with completely platonic reasons why Jack would find it useful to know that Bitty caves easily to puppy-dog eyes. He fails spectacularly. He’s not sure his little Southern heart can take this.

Then the picture sends.

==Jack Zimmermann==

 **Me:** Meet Peaches [attached picture of the monstrosity that is the Bittle family cat sprawled across the six year old that it dwarfs]

 **Jack:** ah.

 **Jack:** You’re sure that’s a cat?

 **Me:** not really. It could be a Lilo  & Stitch moment. It’s gonna turn into an alien and take us all on a wild adventure.

 **Jack:** …which one of us would be Cobra Bubbles?

 **Me:** You know, for a guy who asked me to my face who Beyoncé is, I’m really shocked that you can reference Lilo  & Stitch accurately.

 **Jack:** I have a 7 year old and Camilla never sits still long enough to watch movies with her so it’s always me.

 **Me:** Yeah, I just kinda do everything.

 **Jack:** You’re a good dad, Bitty.

 **Jack:** even if you do have weird taste in cats.

==

* * *

 

It’s about a week after they acquire Peaches that Jack calls him. Bitty tries not to panic, or to swoon, because by this point, they’re very much best friends, but he can’t keep himself from smiling dopily at the phone.

“Hey Jack,” Bitty says.

“Hey Bits,” Jack says. “What are you guys doing today?”

“Nothing much,” Bitty says, wondering if Jack’s going to invite them out to do something. “Maybe make a few pies.”

“Yeah!” Tommy says from where he’s sitting on the kitchen floor teasing Peaches with a feather dancer.

“Oh! Cool,” Jack says. “Uh, so Justin and I were going to go play golf and I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind maybe watching Maddie? Unless you want to come play golf with us, obviously, but you don’t really strike me as a golf person and--”

“I’d be happy to watch Maddie,” Bitty interrupts, because no, he is definitely not a golf person. “What’s Adam gonna do while y’all are at the course?”

“I don’t know,” Jack says.

“Well maybe I’ll call him and we’ll throw all the kids together,” Bitty suggests.

“Sounds like fun,” Jack says. Bitty can hear him smiling.

Adam, it turns out, would be delighted to have Bitty, Tommy, and Maddie come over while Justin and Jack play golf, because what else are they, the civilised Americans, supposed to do while their weird Canadian co-parents are playing _golf_ of all tragic occurrences.

“I mean, Jack and I aren’t really co-parents,” Bitty says. Although, to be honest, Jack had asked _him_ to babysit Maddie, not Camilla.

“Whatever you say, Bitty,” Adam replies, raising his eyebrows significantly. Bitty blushes and goes back to making pie.

He deputizes the combined six children they’ve got to help turn the crust ends into cinnamon wheels and then releases them into the backyard so they can throw leaves at each other.

“So you guys adopted?” Bitty asks, counting all four of Adam and Justin’s kids.

“Kinda,” Adam says with a shrug. “Josh and Marco are totally adopted, but Sam’s mine because of an ex-girlfriend, and Ellie is Justin’s from his ex-wife.”

“Oh,” Bitty says, because now that he’s looking at them, Sam does have blonde hair like Adam and looks just like him, and Ellie looks just like Justin. “Their moms are still around though, right?”

“I honestly have no idea where Sasha is,” Adam says with a shrug. “Justin adopted Sam when we got married and she claims she doesn’t have a mom. Ellie’s mom and her wife are in Doctors Without Borders and I’ve got legal custody because it made everything easier, but March and April come around whenever they can and play moms for all four of them when they’re needed.”

Bitty smiles and takes the first pie out of the oven.

“What about you? Where’s Tommy’s mom?” Adam asks.

“Oh, uh,” Bitty says, putting the second pie in the oven. He wipes the flour off his hands onto the apron he’s borrowing, and clears his throat. “She died in childbirth.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, bro, I didn’t realise,” Adam says, clapping him on the shoulder.

Bitty knows it’s not okay to say, “Nah, it’s fine, I don’t really care,” even if somewhere inside he’s still very mad at Tanya.

“Were you guys married?” Adam asks.

“Oh god no,” Bitty says before he can temper his response. “No, I am very gay.”

Adam raises his eyebrows and Bitty sighs. At least if he tells Adam, maybe the story will circulate to the rest of the hockey parents and he won’t have to have this conversation seventeen times. He’ll probably need to be the one to tell Jack though, for his own sake.

“Uh, we figure skated together in high school and then went to college together, and it was Georgia so I wasn’t exactly out, and she thought we were dating even though we really, really were not, and we got very drunk together at graduation and then eight months later my mama ran into her at a CVS and she was very pregnant,” Bitty says.

Adam is silent for a moment. “Bits, that sounds a little like she--”

“I know what it sounds like,” Bitty says. “It wasn’t – we were both really drunk and I finally told her I was gay and she said I didn’t get to decide that if I hadn’t ever been with a woman before, and I grew up in Georgia so I believed her.”

“That’s really fucked up man,” Adam says.

“Yeah I know,” Bitty says. He still feels a little sick about it sometimes. “I never should’ve agreed, because it’s not like I hadn’t spent all of college having sex with other men, but on the other hand, now I’ve got Tommy.”

Adam still looks very sympathetic and likes he wants to maybe hug Bitty or something, but Bitty doesn’t want to deal with that.

“So, let’s get dinner going!” Bitty says with brightness he doesn’t feel. Adam lets it go, but he doesn’t seem happy about it.

Jack and Justin get back right as they finish making dinner and are immediately tackled by the kids. They’re both wearing ridiculous golf clothes which make both Bitty and Adam wince, but the two of them don’t seem to care.

Dinner goes very well and Bitty has to constantly remind himself that this is not actually a double date since he and Jack aren’t together. It feels like a date, though, when Jack drives him and Tommy home afterwards. If it weren’t for the two kids in the backseat, Bitty would be nervously wondering if Jack was going to walk him to the door and kiss him goodnight. But he won’t, of course, because Jack is married, and straight, and Bitty is pathetic.

“Hey, so Will and Derek and I were talking about getting everyone together and going camping soon,” Jack says when they’re stopped in Bitty’s driveway.

“Oh yeah?” Bitty asks.

“The whole hockey team and parents type group outing,” Jack elaborates. “Maybe rent a cabin? Maybe for Thanksgiving?”

“That sounds great!” Bitty says, since he and Tommy won’t be going down to Georgia for the occasion. It would be nice to spend it with the hockey family. “What do you think, Tommy?”

“Will there still be pie?” Tommy asks in a very serious tone.

“Of course there’ll still be pie, sweetheart,” Bitty says.

“Then yes,” Tommy says. “What are we going to do with Peaches though?”

“I’ll get Tony to come feed him,” Bitty promises.

Jack smiles.

* * *

 

Of course, in the end, they have to rent multiple cabins. Bitty spends their first day there flitting between them, making sure all the kids are bundled up, making sure their Californian contingent – Caitlin and Chris Chow and their son Kevin – aren’t freezing to death, corralling the kids for hot chocolate. He has a good assistant in Ainsley, who’s started referring to him as Coach B.

“Where’s Camilla?” Bitty asks on Wednesday afternoon, leaning against the porch of one of the cabins with Jack. It’s already snowed at their camping place, not that Bitty considers cabins “camping” per se. It’s a nice little place though. All the cabins share a central yard, and they’re surrounded by pine trees. There’s a pond and if it wasn’t November, Bitty imagines it would be great for swimming. They have to keep telling the kids that it’s not frozen enough for them to skate on, though, otherwise they’d be having a game of shinny right then.

“Spain,” Jack says like this is a normal response.

Before he gets to elaborate, he’s being called upon to help referee a game of field hockey and has to leave Bitty at the cabin.

Through a stroke of fate that Bitty doesn’t really understand, he and Tommy end up sharing a cabin with Jack and Maddie. Justin and Adam and their four kids take up a whole cabin themselves, Derek, Will, and Ainsley are sharing with Assumpta and Drew and Nat. Chris and Caitlin are with another set of parents, and by process of elimination, it means Bitty has to share a cabin with Jack.

They give Maddie and Tommy the room with a double bed, opting to take the room with two single beds themselves. Once the kids are snugly tucked in, Manchie and Bunny nestled between them, Bitty and Jack sit up in the common room. They’ve got warm mugs of hot chocolate, laced with the peppermint schnapps Adam had brought over, and are sharing the couch. If Bitty were to think too hard about it, he’s pretty sure his heart would hurt.

Jack is telling him a story from his time in the NHL, his voice low and soothing, something to do about an occasion where he’d needed to remove an collection of lacrosse players from a hotel with only a fire extinguisher because they were giving Snowy a bad time for wearing eyeliner, and it had been Jack, a very large Russian man he only introduces as Tater, and a fire extinguisher versus approximately four NCAA lacrosse teams. Bitty can’t help but laugh at his story, feeling warm and content. He’s somewhat aware of the fact he drifts off to sleep leaning against Jack’s chest, and he knows he shouldn’t, but his last conscious thought is that it feels a little like Jack is stroking his hair.

Bitty wakes with a start around three in the morning to find he’s still curled up against Jack. The guilt that washes over him is strong enough that he wants to scream. He tries to get up, leave Jack on the couch, but inexplicably, Jack’s arms tighten around his waist and pull him closer. Bitt freezes.

“No, stay,” Jack mumbles, very much still asleep.

“Jack, I can’t,” Bitty whispers. The sound of his voice wakes Jack up, and he looks down at Bitty with an unreadable expression in his eyes. Bitty imagines that sleeping Jack thought he was holding his wife, and has to be somewhat surprised to figure out it’s actually Bitty.

“Stay,” Jack repeats. “Please.”

Bitty tells himself it’s because he’s too tired to move that he allows himself to lay his head back on Jack’s chest and drift off to sleep.  

They don’t talk about it in the morning, especially because Bitty wakes up earlier and sets about making breakfast – bacon, eggs, toast – and coffee. Jack gets up a few minutes later and seems unperturbed by the fact they’d slept on the same couch, actively cuddling. In fact, he goes so far as to smile at Bitty, which is just messed up as far as Bitty’s concerned. But maybe he’s wrong. Maybe Jack and Camilla are separated or going through a rough patch, maybe – although it hurts to think about – maybe Jack is the sort of person to cheat on his wife. Bitty stops thinking about it as soon as the thought crosses his mind.

After breakfast, he finds himself leaning on the front porch of one of the cabins with Adam and Derek, wrapped heavily in a scarf and sweater because even if he’s lived in Rhode Island for years, he’s still not used to New England winters. Jack spends the morning helping the kids with a snow fort, helping organise them into teams. Every so often he glances over at Bitty and smiles so brightly Bitty can feel his insides melt.

“So true or false.”

Bitty looks up at Adam and Derek on either side of him, each with their own mugs of coffee while they all watch their husbands – not that Jack and Bitty are married, he reminds himself – play snow wars with the kids.

“If you were to take off that scarf, your neck would be entirely covered in hickeys because you and Jack have finally given up on trying to hide your relationship,” Derek says.

“Trying to hide our relationship?” Bitty asks.

“Come on, we all know anyway,” Adam says. “It was, what? The second week after hockey started?”

“Uh, I think y’all got the wrong end of the stick,” Bitty says.

“You seriously mean to tell me Mr Thousand Watt Smile over there isn’t giving it to you on the regular,” Adam says.

Bitty stares at him. “Um, no,” he says. “He’s not. Because I’m not that type of guy.”

“What type of guy? The type of guy who enjoys having sex with a former NHL player? Because I’m really not sure anyone _isn’t_ that type of guy,” Derek says.

Bitty gapes. “I’m not the type of guy to sleep with a married man.”

Adam and Derek exchange looks over the top of his head, which is annoying, but at least he doesn’t have to see them actively re-evaluating their opinions of him, especially since their opinion was so poor.

“Uh, Bits?” Derek says. “Jack’s not married.”

“Really,” Bitty says, his voice flat.

“Jack and Camilla got divorced before Maddie turned one,” Adam replies. “They were only married for like, two years.”

Bitty blinks at him.

“You’re serious,” he says finally.

“Completely,” Derek agrees.

Bitty’s heart is starting to race in his chest, because if Jack’s _not_ married, then he has to re-evaluate everything. Every time it felt like a date, every time it felt like flirting, all the time Jack’s spent at his house, it probably _was_ flirting.

“Uh,” Bitty says. “I need to go examine my life choices.”

He hurries away from them back into his cabin. At the very least he can start on Thanksgiving dinner, which should keep him from over-analysing everything that’s happened in the past few months.

Of course Tommy never mentioned Camilla after he’d spent time with Jack and Maddie – Camilla didn’t live with them. Of course Jack wouldn’t know what to do with himself in the mornings if Maddie wasn’t there – he lives alone aside from his daughter. Bitty doesn’t even know how they divide up time between households. He’s just been completely oblivious.

He nearly jumps out of his skin when a voice sounds behind him.

“Hey, Adam said you could use some help?” Jack asks.

“Did he?” Bitty squeaks because NHL Superstar Jack Zimmermann is standing very close to him in a very small kitchen and he is very possibly interested in Bitty.

Jack frowns at Bitty’s tone and seems to retreat, emotionally.

“Did I do something?” he asks. “Is this because of last night? Because I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or anything. I didn’t even think about it, I just thought--”

“I thought you were married,” Bitty interrupts before slapping his hand over his mouth.

“Wait, what?” Jack asks.

Bitty takes a deep breath. “I thought you were married until about fifteen minutes ago when Derek and Adam told me you weren’t. That’s why I was nervous about waking up on the couch with you, because I thought I was ruining your marriage,” he says. He can feel his heart racing against his ribcage like it’s trying to communicate something. Bitty’s pretty sure that something is extreme panic.

Jack is silent for a moment, like he’s contemplating something.

“Oh,” he says finally.

Before Bitty knows what’s happening, Jack’s hands are cupping his face and his lips are pressing against Bitty’s. Bitty can’t breathe, standing on his toes to put an arm around Jack’s shoulders and knot his fingers in Jack’s hair so he can pull him down to a more reasonable height.

They break apart when the oven beeps. Jack looks wrecked, his hair’s a mess, his lips are red, his pupils blown. Bitty’s knees feel weak, and he can’t help but giggle.

“You really thought I was married?” Jack asks, letting his hands rest on Bitty’s waist. Bitty’s pretty sure his hands are big enough they could successfully wrap around Bitty’s waist without trouble.

“You’re wearing a ring, Jack,” Bitty points out.

Jack looks down at his left hand, surprised. “That’s a Stanley Cup ring,” he says. And now Bitty feels particularly stupid. “I just got used to wearing a ring on that finger. Feels kind of like I’m naked without it.”

And there’s _that_ mental image in Bitty’s head. Not that it hadn’t been there before, of course, but now it’s an attainable mental image. There’s a very real possibility of him seeing Jack Zimmermann naked in the immediate future.

He wonders if Jack is also contemplating how they can kick the kids out of the room with the double bed without being suspicious, because Bitty definitely is.

“Should I be helping you cook?” Jack asks, kissing Bitty quickly. It’s so casual, so affectionate, so _easy_ that Bitty’s pretty sure he could melt to a puddle in the middle of the kitchen right then from happiness.

“No, you just sit there and look pretty,” Bitty instructs.

“I can do that,” Jack says, grinning at him.

* * *

 

Bitty’s pretty sure that six months is too early to move in with someone. Especially when that requires packing up a child, a monstrosity of a cat, and combining households with someone else who has a cat and a child. Bitty’s also pretty sure he doesn’t care.

“And that’s the last box,” Adam says, dropping the last of Bitty’s kitchen boxes in Jack’s kitchen. Well, it’s not _Jack’s_ kitchen anymore, Bitty reflects. It’s _their_ kitchen. Upstairs he can hear Tommy and Maddie running around, probably unpacking Tommy’s things. At least, Bitty hopes they’re unpacking. “How much kitchen stuff do you _have_ Bits?”

“I own a bakery, Adam, what do you expect?” Bitty replies, smiling when Jack laughs. There’s a hiss and the sound of scrabbling paws from the next room, and all three of them duck into the living room. Peaches is lying on the rug like he belongs there, eyes slitted, tail flipping, while Socks dances around him, hissing, running sideways and spitting. Bitty winces.

To their shock, Socks dances close enough and Peaches jumps up, pounces, and pins Socks to the rug, using all of his considerable bulk to hold Socks in place while licking her ears. Socks mewls pitifully, but takes it.

“You know, that’s actually the thing I was most worried about,” Jack says, wrapping his arms around Bitty from behind and pulling him flush against Jack’s chest. Bitty lays his hands over Jack’s and relaxes into him. “Whether the cats would get along.”

“Peaches doesn’t really follow the rules of physics so I can’t imagine him caring about another cat,” Bitty replies.

“Mmhmm,” Jack agrees, nuzzling the back of Bitty’s neck and pressing a soft kiss there.

“Hey, if you guys need me to take the kids out for pizza for several hours, just say the word,” Adam says. “Nothing says ‘happy moving in together’ like having your friend remove your children so you can bang in inappropriate places.”

“Thanks Adam,” Bitty says. “Nice to know you think about our sex life.”

Jack snickers, and kisses the back of his neck again.

“Have them back by nine?” Jack requests, and Bitty swats him in the thigh.

“Done,” Adam replies. He turns to the stairs and bellows for Tommy and Maddie, promising pizza and the company of his children. They tumble down the stairs, allow the big strong firefighter to carry them out the door, and then Jack and Bitty have the house to themselves.

“It would be inappropriate to have sex in the living room, right?” Jack asks.

“We’re not having sex in the living room,” Bitty replies, turning around in Jack’s arms. “The bed will do just fine.”

Jack nods and scoops Bitty up, hands gripping his ass. Bitty kisses him intently and is very glad Jack knows the layout of the house like he knows his own hand because otherwise he’s pretty sure they’d be running into walls.

If he’s being honest with himself, Bitty started moving into Jack’s house as soon as they got back to Providence after Thanksgiving. They spent Christmas together in Montreal with Jack’s parents (Tommy immediately started referring to them as _grandmere_ and _grandpere_ to their amusement, Jack’s delight, and Bitty’s embarrassment) and by New Year’s Day, Bitty had two drawers in Jack’s dresser. Tommy had his own room as well, and it was halfway through January when Tommy started complaining about his room at their house because he liked his other room better.

Now that school was out for the summer, he and Jack had decided it was just easier if they officially lived together because it kept Bitty from having to complain about Jack’s lack of appropriate kitchen tools.

“Do you want to get married here or in Montreal or in Georgia?” Jack asks on their second official night living together. They’re curled up in bed together, Bitty in one of Jack’s jerseys, and Bitty had been about to fall asleep, but his eyes spring open at that question.

“That’s one hell of a proposal, Mr Zimmermann,” Bitty replies, trying to ignore the speed of his heart under Jack’s hand. He knows Jack can feel it too, because he’s got his arms wrapped tightly around Bitty and has him pulled in close. “The assumed ‘yes’ is a bold move.”

Jack goes quiet behind him and Bitty winces. He opens his mouth to say that yes, of course he’ll marry Jack, but Jack speaks first.

“I guess that was just a vivid dream?” he says.

“What was?” Bitty asks.

“Me proposing,” Jack mumbles.

Bitty snorts out a laugh and turns over so he can see Jack’s face. He’s flushed and clearly a little embarrassed.

“You had a dream you proposed?” Bitty asks, putting his hand on Jack’s cheek.

“Yeah,” Jack admits. “I was planning to anyway, I have a ring and everything, I just…apparently didn’t get to it yet.”

Bitty shakes his head fondly and kisses him. “I think I’d rather get married here,” he says. “If that’s okay with you. Make both our families travel.”

Jack grins.

* * *

 

Maddie and Tommy take the news very well, sitting quietly on the couch with their respective cats while Bitty and Jack tell them there will be a wedding.

The two of them exchange looks, conferring silently, and then nod as one.

“We have a very serious question,” Maddie says.

“Okay,” Bitty says, bracing himself for whatever they’re about to say.

“Does Tommy get to call Papa ‘Papa’ and do I get to call you dad the same way Tommy does?” Maddie asks.

Bitty has to press his lips together very hard to keep from beaming. He barely resists the urge to bury his face in Jack’s arm and shake with silent laughter.

Jack, on the other hand, is completely stone faced. He seems to be contemplating for a minute and then he nods slowly.

“I think that would be acceptable,” he says in the same serious tone Maddie had used to ask.

They have a barbeque to tell all their friends and Bitty can’t believe how much his life has changed in just a year. A year before, he’d been friends with Shitty and Lardo, he’d lived and breathed the bakery, he’d been stressed about Tommy’s school. Now he’s got all these friends from the hockey team, he’s engaged, Tommy will be going to a different school in the fall with his stepsister, they’ve got cats, and Bitty gets to go to sleep every night with the prettiest man he’s ever had the privilege to know.

“I’m so happy for you guys,” Camilla says, hugging Bitty tightly. “You’ve been so nauseatingly cute that it’s kind of a relief.”

“Thanks,” Bitty says.

Camilla’s bright smile flags. “But I need to talk to the two of you.”

Jack and Bitty exchange concerned looks and follow her into the kitchen.

“Um, so Andre proposed to me as well,” Camilla starts, the smile back for a second.

Andre, Bitty knows now, is Camilla’s Spanish boyfriend.

“And he wants me to move to Spain,” Camilla says.

“Oh,” Jack says, and Bitty feels a little hollow. If Camilla moves to Spain, they have to work out a whole new custody arrangement, since the seventy-thirty split they’ve got now (“It’s because I missed so much when Maddie was smaller and I lived in Montreal,” Jack had explained. “And because I’m retired and so I have nothing but free time to spend with her.”) isn’t going to work very well with Camilla in a different country.

“Well, you guys have shared custody across an international border before,” Bitty points out, holding Jack’s hand.

“Yeah, we have,” Camilla agrees, giving him a grateful smile. “But Maddie doesn’t speak Spanish.”

She takes a deep breath, and Bitty feels nervous.

“She speaks French,” Camilla says. “And she’s got all your expressions, and she plays hockey instead of tennis, and she hates my side of the family anyway and--”

“That’s because your parents told her I was a drug addict,” Jack mumbles. Bitty squeezes his hand and he falls silent.

“And you guys have this whole community here,” Camilla continues as if Jack hasn’t just slandered his former in-laws. “And she’s so much more your kid than she is mine, Jack, and she always has been.”

“You want her to stay here,” Bitty says.

Camilla nods. “I just want her to come visit sometimes, you know? And I’ll come visit as often as I can, and we should all start doing holidays together, Christmas at the very least, but yes, I think she should stay here.”

Bitty’s the first to hug her, and Camilla squeezes him tightly. Then she reaches out an arm and pulls Jack into the hug as well.

“Dad?” Maddie’s voice asks from the kitchen doorway. “Peaches is trying to steal the sausages off the barbeque and I think he’s about to win the fight against Adam.”

“Yeah, I’ll be right there, sweetheart,” Bitty says, extricating himself from the group hug and drying his eyes. Camilla laughs, but it’s watery and she has to run her fingers under her eyes as well.

“Hey monkey, can I talk to you for a minute?” Camilla asks, holding out her arms for Maddie to come hug her. She does, and Bitty and Jack stage a tactful retreat to go save the barbeque from Peaches.

“Papa!” Tommy shouts from across the yard where he’s being tickled by Nat and a few of Adam and Justin’s kids. “Papa! _M’aidez!_ ”

“I’ll go help,” Jack says. He kisses Bitty tenderly and then plasters on a smile so he can go extricate their son from the tickle fight.

“You guys are gross,” Adam says from next to him. Bitty looks over and discovers that Peaches is very nearly about to escape from Adam’s arms and go directly into the barbeque.

“Hey! Peaches!” Bitty says, injecting enthusiasm into his voice. “Look what I’ve got!”

He holds up a tennis ball and Peaches watches him curiously.

“Go get it!” Bitty says, tossing the ball off the deck and into the yard. It bounces through a few kids and Peaches launches himself from Adam’s arms, over the railing, and bounces off into the grass.

“You’re sure that’s a cat?” Adam asks.

“Nope,” Bitty says. He follows Peaches’ progress across the yard, watches him pick up the tennis ball and trot over to where Jack is buried under a pile of children. As Peaches drops the ball on Jack, looking expectant, Jack looks over at the deck, catches Bitty’s eye, and smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> Rhysiana's comments on Jack's reaction to someone mistaking Tommy for his son when they're at the zoo:  
> \- Jack "I pick my battles and this isn't even close to a thing I want to argue with a stranger about" Zimmermann  
> \- Jack "I wish that were true more than you know" Zimmermann  
> \- Jack: "Headcanon accepted"
> 
> Also, the translation of Jack and Maddie's French:  
> 1\. _papa, je pense qu'il est trop petit pour jouer_ : Dad, I think he's too small to play.  
> 2\. _Papa! C'est pas vrais papa! Je l'aime mais je ne l'adore pas!_ : It's not true dad! I like him but I don't love him! (AKA "dad Mom's being heteronormative again!")  
> 3\. _Madeline, nous ne pouvons pas parler le francais devant ta mere. Elle ne le comprend pas et cela la rend folle_ : Madeline, we can't speak French in front of your mom. She doesn't understand and it makes her mad (he says in French because Jack is a little shit sometimes)  
> 4\. _non, tu dois l'appele ma petite_ : No, you have to call her.
> 
> and as always, you can come cry with me on [tumblr.](http://omgericzimmermann.tumblr.com)


End file.
